Lottery officials in Laos are rigging the system by manipulating winning numbers and denying access to certain numbers that many believe to be unlucky, sources in the communist Southeast Asian nation tell RFA. For example, on Oct. 14 this year, the winning number 509 appeared on tickets throughout the day of the drawing, but suddenly became unavailable after a large amount of people wanted to purchase lottery chances using the number, an RFA source said. The office of Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith sent a directive to state lottery supervisors on Aug. 17 demanding they improve transparency. Among those responsible for running the legal state lottery are private business interests with connections to the ruling elite, sources say.